*Blue nanwi*, blue drummer, *Girella cyanea*

Norf'k Ilen's Language

Norfolk Island’s Language

This resource has been created to celebrate Norf’k names for marine species, with input from Norf’k Islanders of Pitcairn descent and the Language Commission of Norfolk Island. Thank you to everyone who has generously shared their knowledge and time to help shape it, including on posts on my Facebook page. I dutifully wrote these down whenever I saw them and have kept a record. In particular, I would like to mention Naomi Christian, a semi-retired botanist, and a Norfolk Islander who speaks Norf’k, who gave me the first comprehensive list to work with. This was a beginning rather than a finished record. Language is living, and spellings, names and usage can vary and as such I welcome respectful feedback, further knowledge and community input.

On this page, I have provided a link to a list edited by the Language Commission and Peter Mühlhäusler. This will take you to a PDF version, which you are welcome to download. Also on this page are images for some of the species that live in the Kingston lagoon, which is my primary area of interest.

Entries are arranged alphabetically by their Norf’k names, with an English common name and scientific names included to help readers navigate the page.

The Language Commission and Peter Mühlhäusler added this note to their edited list:

This paper presents work in progress. The main aim of this and related papers is to help document and preserve as many words of the Norf’k language as possible.

There are a number of domains related to fishnames, that require documentation:

names for body parts of fish and fish behaviour (e.g. floo-utten) floeten
names for the marine environment such as reefs, lagoons etc.
terms related to fishing
fish dishes
fishing ground names such as the ones discussed by Nash (2014)
idioms and metaphors featuring the sea (e.g. big suff, fin-out) or sea creatures (myse fish)
fish in nicknames and place names
the words related to whales and whaling

Most importantly, words are not there just to be in a dictionary. They need to be used and enjoyed in meaningful cultural activities.

Language Commission’s list of Norf’k fish names

You can view and, if you wish, download the full list, here.

Some of the inshore reef species

*Artooti*, banded scalyfin, *Parma polylepis*

*Artooti*, multispine damselfish, *Neoglyphidodon polyacanthus*

*Big-eye*, Norfolk cardinalfish, *Ostorhinchus norfolcensis*

*Butter-fish*, bluespot butterflyfish, *Chaetodon plebeius*

*Kairt-fish*, striped catfish, *Plotosus lineatus*

*Oefi*, white trevally, *Pseudocaranx dentex*

*P’oev*, surge wrasse, *Thalassoma purpureum*

*Stiddy*, notch-head marblefish, *Aplodactylus etheridgii*

*Twee-trousers*, eastern footballer, *Atypichthys latus*

*White artooti*, blackspot sergeant, *Abudefduf sordidus*

*Gott-fish*, cardinal goatfish, *Parupeneus ciliatus*

*Karwhi*, Kermadec kahawai, *Arripis xylabion*

*Oel wife*, Merten’s butterflyfish, *Chaetodon mertensii*

*Red snapper*, halfmoon groper, *Epinephelus rivulatus*

*Swal-doodle*, spotted porcupinefish, *Diodon hystrix*

*Yaholli*, blueback sprat, *Spratelloides delicatulus*

*Wunna*, lamington urchin, *Tripneustes australiae*

*Bucket*, Pacific rockcod, *Trachypoma macracanthus* (also sleepy dolly)

*Issi-fish*, hornpike long tom, *Strongylura leiurus*

*Nanwe*, grey drummer, *Kyphosus bigibbus* (dream fish)

*Ouw*, Peron’s sidegill sea slug, *Pleuribranchus peroni*, other sea slugs

*Saela’s piss*, one-spot puller, *Chromis hypsilepis*

*Tuff cord*, yellowbanded wirrah, *Acanthistius cinctus*

References

Australian Fisheries Management Authority. (2010). Norfolk Island inshore fishery data summary 2006–2009. Australian Fisheries Management Authority.

Baker, P., & Pederson, L. (2013). Talk of St Kitts and Nevis. Battlebridge Publications.

Buffett, A. I. (1999). Speak Norfolk today: An encyclopaedia of the Norfolk Island language. Himii Publishing Company.

Coleman, N. (1991). The nature of Norfolk Island. Sea Australia Resource Centre.

Flint, E. H. (1964). The language of Norfolk Island. In A. S. C. Ross & A. W. Moverley (Eds.), The Pitcairnese language (pp. 189–206). André Deutsch.

Flint, E. H. (n.d.-a). Appendix I: Norfolk Island fishes [Unpublished manuscript]. Fryer Library, University of Queensland.

Flint, E. H. (n.d.-b). Norfolk form-meaning reference list [Unpublished manuscript]. Fryer Library, University of Queensland.

Francis, M. P. (1993). Checklist of the coastal fishes of Lord Howe, Norfolk, and Kermadec Islands, southwest Pacific Ocean. Pacific Science, 47(2), 136–170.

Göthesson, L.-Å. (2000). Fishes of the Pitcairn Islands, including local names and fishing methods [Unpublished manuscript]. Lund, Sweden.

Harrison, S. (1972). The language of Norfolk Island [Master’s thesis, Macquarie University].

Källgård, A. (1981). Pitcairnese – A report 30 years after Moverley, concentrating on the vocabulary [Master’s thesis, Göteborg University].

Mühlhäusler, P. (1998). The development of ethno-classification in pidgins and creoles and their relevance to creolization theory [Paper presentation]. International Symposium on Degrees of Restructuring in Creole Languages, Regensburg University, Germany.

Mühlhäusler, P., Nebauer-Borg, R., & Coleman, P. (2012). Ucklun’s Norf’k: Words as a memory of our past. Norfolk Island Museum Trust.

Nash, J. (2014). Obtuse anglers: The linguistics and ethnography of fishing ground names on Norfolk Island. In I. D. Clark, L. Hercus, & L. Kostanski (Eds.), Indigenous and minority placenames: Australian and international perspectives (pp. 305–323). ANU Press.

Nobbs-Palmer, B. (1986). A dictionary of Norfolk words and usages plus English-Norfolk appendix. B. N. Palmer.

Robinson, A., & Robinson, O. (1937). Word list prepared for Administrator Pinney [Unpublished manuscript]. National Library of Australia.

Ross, A. S. C., & Moverley, A. W. (1964). The Pitcairnese language. André Deutsch.

Tofts, R. (1993). Shark tales and yarns from Norfolk Island. Author.